Boston Bruins

[Thieving Giraffe]

If, by some awesome chance, the Canucks and Bruins meet in the Stanley Cup Final, all support from me will heretofore cease and you will be among my sworn enemies and I shall scrutinize your writing and heap vast amounts of scorn and venom upon it. I will print off your posts just so I can piss on them and burn them and then piss upon the ashes.

God I love hockey.

[4T2]

Haha, hey that's part of the game man. I understand completely.

[4T2]

I'll try to update with my thoughts on Game 5 later today. Pretty busy at work. For now, here's a nice shot of Timmy beaming ear-to-ear. How can you not root for a guy who's enjoying himself this much.

[4T2]

Ugh, sorry I didn't get around to writing my take on Game 5. Crazy busy week. I will say that the only Bruins who looked consistently good were Marchand and Bergeron. Bergy was miles ahead of the rest of the team. If they want to make it to the next round, they need to take a lesson from him.

Horton deserves a quick mention too, had he not scored that nice one-timer, he would have been the goat of the game. Someone on twitter suggested that he needed the red circle around the player with the puck like in the NHL games. He kept taking stupid interference penalties.

I will try to post a more detailed take on tonights game if I can find the time.

[bondon]

Hey bud, quick question, and its kind of irrelevant to the series but if you could appease my curiosity I would appreciate it
How do you properly pronounce Lucic? I have always called him "Loo-Cheech", but I keep hearing "Loo-Chick" when I watch TSN.
Its driving me almost as nuts as the Seguin vs. Sequin lol.
Best of luck to your boys tonight!

[4T2]

Thanks man.

According to an interview with The Improper Bostonian it is pronounced "Loo-Cheech"

Jonathan Soroff: How do you pronounce your name?
Milan Lucic: “Loo-cheech,” like Cheech and Chong.

http://www.improper.com/features/milan-lucic/

It's funny, because everyone rags on Grapes for his pronunciation, but TSN is as bad if not worse than Don Cherry is.

[Thieving Giraffe]

I will say that the only Bruins who looked consistently good were Marchand and Bergeron.

I thought that Peverley and Kelly (aside from one offensive zone turnover) played pretty well. ENG not included.

The defensemen have been in an absolute rut. Chara looks pedestrian, Kaberle's a mess (I don't even think he should be on the power play, his shots and passes are frequently off mark and he's incapable of obtaining or maintaining the offensive zone), and as for Boychuk, even putting aside that slip and the failure to defend the pass on the 2-on-1, he's been a liability this whole series. They give up the blue line way too easily, especially to the big three, and speed or no speed, there's no excuse for Tampa to be pushing them around like this in terms of physical play. Cam Neely must be gnashing his teeth!

In nomine Patris et fillii et Timothy Thomas...

[Dutch]

come on Boston! Beat those pesty lightning, and then kill those awful canucks.

My money is on you, and I need you to pull through for me!

I would love nothing more than those arrogant canuck fans (not necessarily the guys on the forums here tho) to shut their holes for a while

That, and I can't stand the "we need to cheer for a canadian team" mentality.

GO BRUINS GO!

[4T2]

I thought that Peverley and Kelly (aside from one offensive zone turnover) played pretty well. ENG not included.

The defensemen have been in an absolute rut. Chara looks pedestrian, Kaberle's a mess (I don't even think he should be on the power play, his shots and passes are frequently off mark and he's incapable of obtaining or maintaining the offensive zone), and as for Boychuk, even putting aside that slip and the failure to defend the pass on the 2-on-1, he's been a liability this whole series. They give up the blue line way too easily, especially to the big three, and speed or no speed, there's no excuse for Tampa to be pushing them around like this in terms of physical play. Cam Neely must be gnashing his teeth!

In nomine Patris et fillii et Timothy Thomas...

If I had more time, I probably would have gotten to a few positives about Peverley and Kelly. They weren't spectacular, but you don't expect them to be. They were solid and that's all we need. Overall, they are still lacking the hunger that made me praise Bergeron and Marchand though. The whole team needs to step it up to the next level.

You're right about the defense. With the size we have on the blue line, it should be a battle to get past them. I think Tampa's speed probably makes it look worse than it is though. If the D can find their physical edge again, they could make short work of Tampa. Wear them out in the first, then dominate the rest of the game.

come on Boston! Beat those pesty lightning, and then kill those awful canucks.

My money is on you, and I need you to pull through for me!

I would love nothing more than those arrogant canuck fans (not necessarily the guys on the forums here tho) to shut their holes for a while

That, and I can't stand the "we need to cheer for a canadian team" mentality.

GO BRUINS GO!

Welcome aboard Dutch. Happy to have your support.

[4T2]

What a performance by the Bruins last night! And I don't mean in a good way.

We were treated to yet another lackluster effort from the Bruins as we have been in a good chunk of the games this post-season. After giving up a goal to Tampa just 36 seconds in, the Bruins went on to dominate the first period and finish with a 2-1 lead.

Tampa Bay must be pumping some sort of anesthetic into the visiting dressing room because the Bruins were sleep walking through the second and most of the third period.

Halfway through the third, Krejci woke up and potted his second goal of the game to pull Boston within one. The Bruins then fell right back into their coma allowing St Louis to bury one just 29 seconds later.

Finally with about seven minutes remaining, the Bruins passion from the first period returned and Krejci completed his hat trick. They would then dominate the rest of the game, but fail to put any pucks past Roloson and allow Tampa to force game seven.

Tim Thomas
It pains me to say it, but Timmy was horrible last night. While he wasn't getting any help from the D, all the Bruins needed from him was an average performance. He failed to deliver.

He allowed 5 goals on 26 shots for a .807 SV%. Not exactly what you'd expect from the man who set a new record in that category this year.

Which Thomas will we see in Game 7? Will it be the man who shut the door in Game 3? Or will it be the impostor wearing a Thomas jersey who was in last night?

The Bruins Defense
Non-existent.

I really don't think I need to elaborate on that, but I will.

Ference, Boychuk, Chara, Kaberle, Seidenberg... take your pick. They all looked horrible last night. From taking dumb penalties to playing the wrong man, to be caught out of position. Not one of these guys looked like they wanted to win last night.

The only one I can't say anything negative about was McQuaid... of course I can't say anything positive about him either.

If these guys don't start playing harder and showing their physical side, they can pack it up and hit the golf course. I never ever thought that defense would be a problem this year for Boston.

At one point in the third, it looked like Kaberle forgot he was wearing the black and gold and tried to knock Ryder off the puck.

Scratch Kaberle, Scratch Ference and put in Kampfer and the pylon known as Shane Hnidy... I kid, I kid, I like Hnidy. Seriously though, with Kampfer healthy and the way Boston's D is performing, he should be in there for Game 7.

Special Teams
News Flash: Boston's Powerplay struggles in Game 6
Who could have predicted that? /sarcasm

Although they did manage to score their 5th PP goal of the playoffs, they failed to capitalize on the first four chances of the game. They would dump the puck in and their forechecking looked horrible. Tampa would just ice the puck before a Bruins could even get close to it.

Recchi and Kaberle should not be playing on that unit. Mix it up, it's too bloody predictable.

The PK also allowed three goals last night. Prior to that they had killed off 11 straight Lightning PPs. Last night though, the defencemen just couldn't get the job done.

David Krejci
Let's end things on a positive note. Krejci scored the first Boston playoff hat-trick since Cam Neely back in 1991. He put the team on his shoulders and is the ONLY reason the Bruins were able to pull back within one goal.

If the rest of the team can put in half the effort that Krejci did, then the Bruins could dominate Game 7.



Well, Friday night is do or die time. Hopefully we see the Bruins play the way they did to finish the game. For the love of God, let's hope they don't jump out to a three goal lead early.

[MoreCanadianTeams]

Good write up, tough game to watch from a fan perspective as so many guys were underperforming.

Congrats on your 100th post for Team Coverage 4T2, hope the Bears can get it done tomorrow.

[4T2]

Good write up, tough game to watch from a fan perspective as so many guys were underperforming.

Congrats on your 100th post for Team Coverage 4T2, hope the Bears can get it done tomorrow.

Wow, I never even realized that this section had made it to 100 posts. How sweet would it have been to be using that post to praise the Bruins for making the finals? Alas, that will be reserved for Saturday... I hope.

Thanks for the congrats.

[4T2]

Great, just what we need:

http://sports.yahoo.com/nhl/blog/puc...urn=nhl-wp5771

Horton threw a water bottle at a fan after the game. Okay, emotions were running high. Okay, the fans are throwing stuff at you on the ice. But really? Throwing something at a fan? C'mon Horton, you should know better. You're a professional.

I could see a suspension (1 game) coming down from the NHL for that one. I hope they don't as the Bruins top line looked pretty good last night (now that I've calmed down I can see the positives). But if they do, at least Horton won't be around to take anymore stupid interference calls.

[Thieving Giraffe]

Posted on the other thread - no suspension.

I'm guessing the obnoxious crowd is responsible for his getting a pass after such a stupid move. I wonder if they'd have been so brave against Terry O'Reilly and the '79 Bruins!

[ericdaoust]

Yikes, I know fans can get rowdy but come on it goes on every road game (other than games in Phoenix - chairs don't say anything for some reason). Not surprised that there's no suspension though...